Easter 4 “Garden Walk: Comforter”
May 8th, 2022 – John 10:22-23
“22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
The verses we’re focusing on this morning are from John 10:22-23. In these verses, we hear of a time when Jesus was walking in the temple at the Feast of Dedication. Any idea when this Feast of Dedication was?
Time for some history. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to Mother’s Day).
The feast of dedication was an eight-day long feast which celebrated an event recorded in the book of Maccabees. The event this feast remembers comes out of a time when the nation of Greece was greatly oppressing the Israelites. Israelites were being murdered and forced to cease practicing their religion. It was a very dark time. The worst of it came when the Greek leader, Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrated the altar of the Jewish Temple by slaughtering an unclean animal, a pig, on it.
This desecration led to a Jewish uprising led by the Judah Maccabeus which ended when the rebels pushed back the Greek armies out of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple to Yahweh. It has been a yearly celebration from then on how God rescued them from their enemies and gave them back their temple. Anybody know when this Feast of Dedication is and what it is most commonly called now? Hannukah.
There’s another facet to Hannukah, a miraculous event, that took place during the re-dedication. Inside the Temple there is a candelabra, a menorah, as it is often called, which is always supposed to be lit to symbolize the eternal presence of God. Something similar to our everlasting light. This candelabra took oil to burn. When they were there, the Greeks has defiled the oil to burn the lights and there was only enough oil to burn one day. It would take another eight to remake and process a new batch of oil to burn it longer. They started burning with the one day supply and the light kept burning for eight days until the new batch could be produced. God miraculously provided His light to keep burning.
There is symbolism with this event of Hannukah, which makes the mention of Jesus walking at peace in our Gospel for today rich with meaning this side of the incarnation.
Hannukah is also called the Feast of Lights because of God’s miraculous rescue and provision of light in a very dark time in Israelite history. This feast ends this year with the day of Jesus’ birth – the day God sent Jesus the light of the world into the darkness of our world to live among us and rescue us from sin, death, and the devil. Jesus’ birth is the time that a new temple came to exist and be dedicated too. God dwelt among us in Jesus who is the new Temple connecting God to humanity once again.
In that context, we have our text for today. God Himself walking peacefully in the Temple at the Feast of Dedication where He gave back the Temple to His people all those years ago and provided miraculous hope and healing in a dark time.
It does not take much to find persecution’s darkness today. You simply need to turn on the news and you can find it all over. Ukraine is highlighted right now although there have been, are, and will be many others.
People are being oppressed and mistreated in your home or even your back yard. People hurting each other out of hatred or fear. People being made to feel as though they are insignificant. People being made to feel unsafe. This is all darkness. This is all void of the light and love of Christ.
In Jesus, in the Resurrection, God has victory over this darkness. Over death and dark thoughts. He brings back to life those who have been hated and killed. He casts off the evil oppressor. He brings hope, joy, and life into view in the promises He gives through Jesus. He gives us peace through faith in His promises so that we can live as light in the world.
Jesus gives us peace in His words. He calls to us and cares for us.
Now today, is Good Shepherd Sunday AND Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day in Canada is the second Sunday in May, while Good Shepherd Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Easter. This occurrence on the same day doesn’t happen every year.
Today is a perfect opportunity to look to the Greatest Mother and Comforter all other mothers look up to – Jesus! Yes, Jesus is a man. Yes, by definition Jesus cannot be a mother. Yet, He embodies some of the greatest traits of a mother that exist – comfort and self-sacrifice.
Mothers sacrifice. They give of themselves for their children. They have to, or at least they should. They share this trait with Jesus who died for them, and their children, and who is described as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who lays down their life for the sheep.
Most poignant in our texts for today is Jesus, our Good Shepherd, being as a mother gentle and caring. Being a comforter in times of distress. Like a mother, the Good Shepherd in times of distress and even oppression, leads you beside still waters and green pastures. The Good Shepherd wipes away all your tears. Brings you comfort when your life is sad, or you are in darkness.
To say that mothers can mother away worries or fears and bring comfort and consolation in circumstances is putting far too large a burden on them. After all, mothers are human and sinners who find rest in the Good Shepherd’s grace and forgiveness just like any other. Yet, mothers who embody being a comfort in times of distress and sacrifice for others are real images for us in our daily lives that show who God is through Jesus for you and for me.